BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – With a team with nine new faces every second and every minute of a game is a learning experience.

In the first road test of the season the Lipscomb women’s basketball team dropped a 70-54 decision to UAB from Conference USA Tuesday night at Bartow Arena.

Lipscomb head coach Greg Brown liked several things that he saw from his team. He also thinks that the game provided a number of teachable moments for his players about what is expected on the road.

“I didn’t think we were ever out of it,” Brown said. “I thought we did a lot of things well. I thought we learned a lot of lessons from it. We are going to continue to grow.

“We did a lot of little things that probably won’t show up anywhere that we have been emphasizing in practice. We just have to do them longer. We do things in spurts. We have to lengthen the spurts when we do good things. ”

The Lady Bisons are 0-2. UAB improved to 1-2.

After spotting the Blazers a 13-3 lead to start the game the Lady Bisons refused to give up. At the end of the first 20 minutes the Purple and Gold trailed 36-25.

The Lady Bisons carried the fight into the second half. Sara Bliss hit a three-pointer with seven minutes left to play to trim the UAB lead to nine points, 44-35.

“We got it to nine and then we didn’t execute very well,” Brown said. “UAB is so athletic and strong. We weren’t mentally prepared for that. I think it was a little shock for our players.

“I thought at times we executed well. There was no average execution. We either did it very well or we did it poorly.”

Forward Ashley Southern scored a team-high 17 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.

Also in double figures was Bliss with 12 points, hitting 4-of-14 shots from three-point range.

The Lady Bisons were without the services of starting forward Alex Banks who was sidelined. Jess Reece started in the place of Banks.

“We were playing without a starter,” Brown said. “We had to make adjustments. Different people had to play in the rotation to take those minutes.

“We lost Alex’s three-point shot. Not having her was huge. She is really a big guard for us.”

The Blazers were led by Ashley Grimes with a game-high 18 points. Also in double figures were Karisma Chapman with 15, Chelsea Black with 13 and Kayla Anderson with 10.

“I thought we stayed in front of their kids pretty well,” Brown said. “We didn’t foul. Neither team really fouled. Neither team was in the bonus in the second half. That was an improvement.”

The Lady Bisons are back in action Thursday night at 5:15 when they return to Allen Arena to face Belmont in the women’s version of the “Battle of the Boulevard”.

“We are going to take two or three points of emphasis and then try to execute those in practice and see if they will carry over to the game on Thursday,” Brown said. “We are going to watch some film.

“We have a tendency to over-penetrate. There are some little things spacing-wise that if we clean them up it will make a huge difference."